Hey Envy, I'm thinking of getting the Astro Mixamp Pro for my Q701. Is that good enough? I'm a pc gamer, and I just want to be able to drive these hp and also use dolby headphone. My sound card is a titanium HD, but I want to try out dolby headphone, and see for myself the difference between cmss-3d.

For gaming, yes, but the Q701 is really a picky bastard in terms of amping, and so I would suggest a real amp to power them to get the most out of them.

As far as for PC, I'd honestly save the money and probably get something like the Xonar U3 if you wanna try out Dolby Headphone. The Mixamp is really not worth it for PC use. I'd spend that money on the U3 and hook up a desktop amp to it's headphone out, instead of the Mixamp alone... if I was a PC gamer.

BTW, anyone who IS trying to use the Mixamp as a USB dac/amp for your computer, I forgot to mention that your voice/game knob has to be put on the VOICE side to get audio, which is opposite of how you'd hook it up to consoles, which would be onb the GAME side. I figured this out late, and originally though the mixamp didn't work on my PC as a usb device.

Just tried the Mixamp 2013 on my desktop... it didn't sound that great. It's almost like a AM compared to FM. Yeah, it's treble oriented, lacking impact.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 12/30/12 at 6:52am

I have updated the Astro A50 for more completion (adding of Clarity, Accessories, and some corrections throughout the review). Is it complete? I'll say it's 99% complete. I still feel I'm missing a few things, just not sure what they are yet, lol.

Before I get started, I really want to thank Skullcandy for getting in contact with me and giving me the chance to review the SLYR, as well as the A40+Mixamp 2013 Edition, and A50s on their Astrogaming side.... They have been very communicative, and understanding. Can't thank them enough.

The Astro A50s. The first venture into fully wireless headsets for Astrogaming. Prior to the A50's inception, Astro released the discontinued, rare, and very sought out Mixamp 5.8. The Mixamp 5.8's main selling point was that any standard headphone or headset terminated with a 3.5mm plug could be attached to the Rx unit (receiver), essentially making them wireless. As you guys may know, I'm a humongous fan of the Mixamp 5.8, and it remains as my main gaming device when using my audiophile headphones. While it wasn't truly wireless (you still have your own headphone's wires to deal with), it did remove the tether always necessary between the console and yourself in wired setups, making it a more elegant, and cleaner solution than anything else before.

Unfortunately, Astro didn't find the Mixamp 5.8 to be a big seller, and sought out other solutions. This is rather unfortunate, as with more improvement and functionality, future iterations of the Mixamp 5.8 could have been a huge success in my eyes. Ah well, them's the breaks. So now Astro steered their focus away from the 5.8 and towards fully wireless headsets, the first being the Astro A50s.

Upon opening the freshly designed package, you are greeted with the A50, the transmitter (that shares the same body as the Mixamp 5.8's Tx unit, though different inputs/functionality), parts of a headphone stand (which is VERY nice of Astro to supply), and the necessary cables (which I will edit into this review later, as I have a mess of cables from 3 products at the moment).

Now onto the headset itself. Upon first listen, I was immediately attacked by a relentless assault of bass. Seriously, it absolutely surprised the hell out of me. My prior experience with an Astro headset was the first gen A40s, which was anything but bassy. For a $300 headset, I EXPECTED a well balanced, competitive oriented headset with nowhere near as much bass as the A50s have. In truth, I was quite put off by it.

No, I'm not kidding. I found the only preset worth using was the Pro Preset, which wasn't bass light to begin with, but at least I could actually hear the details, and it was quite decent sounding, though ultimately catering more towards fun than competitive, and not exactly sounding balanced. It's honestly not even worth mentioning the other two in this review past this point, because quite frankly, they're quite terrible sounding. In my future review of the Astro A40s (w/Mixamp 2013 Edition), you can see Astro's presets CAN be useful and maintain some clarity. Just...not here.

I'm not even sure whether to fault the presets, the fact that it's wireless, or if it's the A50's drivers themselves. I plugged in the transmitter to my PC in which the transmitter functions as a USB dac/amp (as well as microphone). The presets as well as Dolby Headphone are disabled, allowing you to hear the drivers work at their most natural state. Well, it seems to be the drivers. They are quite bassy. I am quite literally confused as to why Astro decided to use such bassy drivers for their most expensive gaming headset.

The A50s weren't down for the count yet, though. While 2 of the three presets left a really bad taste in my mouth, I still had one functional preset. Firing up CoD4 (and later on MW2) revealed that the A50s were decent gaming performers albeit on the disappointing side in terms of sound quality. It does perform fine when getting down to the nitty gritty, with a little more bass than I'd prefer out of competitive gaming cans. While the audio quality isn't great, positional cues and details were decent to good. The problem is that it's a closed headset, and everything sounds congested. The A40s sound more open, airy, and balanced, even with the speaker tags on. As far as the wireless capabilities, I find it to be great, where it takes quite a bit of distance for the A50's to drop the audio. I didn't notice and snap, crackles, or pops, nor did I get any hiss until you crank the volume quite a bit past the point where I'd say it's humanly necessary.

I'll get to the specifics in the break down.

Build Quality: The Astro A50 shares the same body and aesthetic design of the A40s, which is to say, they look/feel great for a headset. There are a few key differences from the A40s.

1. The microphone is permanently affixed to the left earcup. The A40's is removable.
2. The cups are closed, and unlike the A40s, can't be removed for a semi-open design. They are now fully closed.
3. The right cup can be pressed on the sides to adjust voice/game volume, similar to the Mixamp's voice/game knob, with the exception that it's two hidden buttons you press, not turn. Once you go completely towards the game or voice side, a chime will play, letting you know you're at 100% game or voice.
4. On the rear of the right cup is where the power button, preset slider (EQ), and volume adjustment is placed.
5. On the rear of the left cup is where the mini usb input (for charging), and the 2.5mm controller input (for the 360 controller) is placed.

Build-wise, I felt the parts used were pretty high quality. Astro made a pretty reliable looking headset here. Nothing looks or feels cheap. The plastic used looks high-grade, and looks like it can take a beating. I'd still handle it with care, however. The only area of 'weakness' that I'd be wary of, is the headband padding piece which sort of 'floats' in the center of the headband. Doesn't look like it'd be a problem, but it's the only area I can see that would probably be the first to give out with rough treatment.

The A50s swivel inward, so you can lay them flat if you need a breather. I find them very comfy letting them rest on my shoulders/neck area, which is rare compared to the vast majority of audiophile headphones which have huge cups, won't swivel, etc.

Comfort: I must have a ginormous head, as I have to wear the A50's fully extended. That, or they don't have enough give. On the opposite side of the size spectrum, the PC360 has enough extension to fit the head of a giant. I wish more headphones allowed that much freedom in size. The A40/A50 is comfortable, but they are at their limit with my head. It could use just a bit more extension, in my opinion.

The pads are made of cloth/velour-like material, which is to say, they are quite comfy to my ears, and won't be heat building/sweat-inducing like typical pleather. I've felt better, but they do their job well.

Microphone: While I'm not too experienced with microphones, I didn't have any issues with my tests. It picks up my voice well. The microphone is long, pliable, and one of the better mics I have used. I don't see anyone having issues with this mic. The microphone is muted when placed upright,m similar to the PC360. Much better than having to press a button.

Cables: Optical cable, 2 mini USB cables. One for powering the Tx unit. This one will also feed the voice chat from the PS3 (has to be hooked up to the PS3 directly). The other is for charging the A50s. 2.5mm male/male for Xbox 360 voice chat capabilities, and the only cable you will need to constantly have attached if using voice chat on the 360.

Isolation/Leakage: In terms of letting sound in/out, I find the A50s to perform...decently. I do hear a fair amount of leakage, so I wouldn't crank these loudly if someone is near me sleeping. As far as keeping external noise out, I found that while using the A50s, it did a decent job overall. I wasn't truly bothered by external noise, though it's not particularly great at it. I blame the cloth pads, which sacrifices isolation/noise leakage protection for extra comfort/less sweat inducing.

Bass: As mentioned earlier, the bass is overly emphasized and boomy for a high-end headset. It's enjoyable on the bass light preset, but ultimately too strong to truly make this headset compete with the other, more balanced headsets like the PC360, SLYR, AX720, and Astro's own A40s. On the flat and bass heavy presets, the bass is loose, boomy, and sloppy. It mucks up the detail quite heavily, making these presets worthless. I'm seriously wondering if the default presets are causing this extra boominess, but I feel that if/when the custom presets become available, a lot of bass reduction is needed to compensate.

Mids: Due to the heavy bass emphasis, mids are drowned out a bit. The mids are distant, but not lost. For the purpose of gaming, the mids are fine, but ultimately not forward. The Pro preset brings out the mids a bit more, which is helpful. For the other two presets, the mids are heavily recessed.

Treble: With the good preset, treble is crisp and bright. It can get sibilant, but not many instances where I see treble being problematic. Again, the Media and Core presets place too much emphasis in bass, drowning out everything that isn't bass.

Soundstage: Somewhat closed in. It's not going to win anyone over based on size.

Positioning: Due to the closed sound, and not so large a soundstage, positioning isn't great, but it's not bad. It's passable, and sometimes even good.

Clarity: To repeat what I have already mentioned, clarity is decent on the Pro preset with sparkly details, albeit somewhat artifical sounding. Clarity is just plain lacking on the Core and especially Media presets. The sound turns overly warm and bass heavy, and all details are sucked out.

Amping: No possibility of being amped, as the transmitter can only take a digital signal, with no way to attach an amp. The A50 is fairly sensitive in either case.

Value: This one isn't hard. It's $300. That's a hard number to swallow. The main benefit of the A50 is that it's wireless. You do get everything you'll ever want in one headset, but sound quality is clearly lacking. I prefer the sound quality of the SLYR, A40, AX720, PC360 by a considerable margin. The A50s are left behind on sound quality. If sound quality is important to you, I'd advise you get something else. It's that simple. In good conscience, I can't recommend the A50s based off it's sound quality. For the purpose of worry-free wireless gaming, the A50s are good enough on the Pro preset if being untethered is absolute top priority, though you will be making some sacrifices for the benefit of going wireless.

Final Impressions: The A50's quite honestly make a better stereo headset than a Dolby Headphone one. I find it enjoyable for music off my PC, but not so much for gaming w/Dolby Headphone. Whether it's the drivers, or the internal amp in the headset, or the presets, the A50s put out bass oriented, and muddy sound for gaming.

Final Scores...

Fun: 6.5. Very decent. While the bass is strong, the only preset worthy to be used is the Pro preset, and ends up sounding heavily processed, which detracts from enjoying non-competitive games to their fullest extent. Bass adds to the immersion, but when you can't hear details, it sucks away from the fun factor, so I don't recommend the other two presets even if just for fun.

Competitive: 6.5. Very decent. Again, the Pro preset brings out the detail which helps quite a bit, but the headphone is still on the bass heavy side which detracts from focusing as much as I'd personally like. The soundstage and positional cues aren't great, and the sound overall feels closed in, but for most gamers, the A50s would be at least, passable.

Comfort: 7.5. Very good. A pretty comfortable headset all around. No problem wearing them for hours on end, with just a few occasional times of re-adjusting them. My only complaint is that it could use a bit more extension for larger heads, as I have to wear it fully extended.

Also wanna add that I have updated ALL headphones, with newer scores to reflect my more up to date impressions, preferences, etc. Some are unchanged, just with added notes on the final scores, and some are changed to be more realistic (for example changing a 1 into a 4). It should look a bit better now.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 12/30/12 at 8:58am

For gaming, yes, but the Q701 is really a picky bastard in terms of amping, and so I would suggest a real amp to power them to get the most out of them.
As far as for PC, I'd honestly save the money and probably get something like the Xonar U3 if you wanna try out Dolby Headphone. The Mixamp is really not worth it for PC use. I'd spend that money on the U3 and hook up a desktop amp to it's headphone out, instead of the Mixamp alone... if I was a PC gamer.
BTW, anyone who IS trying to use the Mixamp as a USB dac/amp for your computer, I forgot to mention that your voice/game knob has to be put on the VOICE side to get audio, which is opposite of how you'd hook it up to consoles, which would be onb the GAME side. I figured this out late, and originally though the mixamp didn't work on my PC as a usb device.
Just tried the Mixamp 2013 on my desktop... it didn't sound that great. It's almost like a AM compared to FM. Yeah, it's treble oriented, lacking impact.

I just want to clarify, you hooked up the mixamp to the PC via usb? In terms of sound quality, is that any different from hooking up the Titanium HD to the amp via optical cable? That was my original plan; using the mixamp to tryout dolby headphone, while at the same time getting the power I need for my Q701. Please let me know if I should not go that route.

As you suggested, I am now considering a desktop amp and a new sound card. I don't want to spend much, and I really just want to try out dolby headphone, so that I can compare it to the CMSS-3D for myself. I plan to keep the Q701 for a few years, so I'm gonna need an amp that I could use for my PC, and for future purposes, my wii console. I don't like the idea of switching out cables frequently. Please if you will, I would very much appreciate your highly valued opinion on what desktop amp and DAC (that features DH) I should purchase . I see that the magni and fiio e9k is about $100 and the xonar U3 is about $50, so that amounts to $150. That's at least $50 more than just buying the mixamp pro. Is there a cheaper combination? Namely, the xonar DG for the DH feature?

I did read your guide, but the difference between the schiit magni, fiio e9k, and fiio e9 (older version) confuses me, because I'm very inexperienced with audiophile-sound equipment. I have very minimal needs, and all the extra stuff I get for what I'm paying is of no concern to me.

The Titanium HD is an internal PCI-Express card. No chance of hooking that up to a laptop, unless you're willing to muck around with PE-4L ExpressCard adapters.

The X-Fi HD USB is an entirely different product not just because of the USB interface, but like all "X-Fi" USB devices, it doesn't actually have the EMU20k1/20k2 DSP for hardware sound acceleration and just does everything in software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by element72

I just want to clarify, you hooked up the mixamp to the PC via usb? In terms of sound quality, is that any different from hooking up the Titanium HD to the amp via optical cable? That was my original plan; using the mixamp to tryout dolby headphone, while at the same time getting the power I need for my Q701. Please let me know if I should not go that route.

As you suggested, I am now considering a desktop amp and a new sound card. I don't want to spend much, and I really just want to try out dolby headphone, so that I can compare it to the CMSS-3D for myself. I plan to keep the Q701 for a few years, so I'm gonna need an amp that I could use for my PC, and for future purposes, my wii console. I don't like the idea of switching out cables frequently. Please if you will, I would very much appreciate your highly valued opinion on what desktop amp and DAC (that features DH) I should purchase . I see that the magni and fiio e9k is about $100 and the xonar U3 is about $50, so that amounts to $150. That's at least $50 more than just buying the mixamp pro. Is there a cheaper combination? Namely, the xonar DG for the DH feature?

I did read your guide, but the difference between the schiit magni, fiio e9k, and fiio e9 (older version) confuses me, because I'm very inexperienced with audiophile-sound equipment. I have very minimal needs, and all the extra stuff I get for what I'm paying is of no concern to me.

For starters, connecting the Mixamp via USB means you're using its own "sound card" and DAC like any other USB audio device, more or less. If you want to make your own CMSS-3D vs. DH comparisons, you need to connect it via S/PDIF out of the X-Fi card and enable Dolby Digital Live so that the Mixamp can decode it and apply DH itself, and to ensure consistency, test CMSS-3D through the Mixamp as well via turning off DH on the Mixamp and DDL on the sound card, and streaming the stereo mix through S/PDIF.

That's how I formed my own conclusions on the two using my SU-DH1.

For Wii usage, you need something with Dolby Pro Logic II decoding support; the Mixamp allegedly supports this, though it isn't explicitly advertised. For Wii U usage...well, things just got a lot more complicated since it only outputs discrete surround sound over HDMI, forcing you to use an A/V receiver with headphone surround processing.

Also note that you're throwing dedicated amps, USB DACs/sound cards, and internal PCI sound cards all into the mix. Very, very different products. I'm not even sure exactly what you're aiming for here, but it seems like you're only concerned with PC support.

I read a lot of threads on head-fi and other websites to find a headset or a headphone + mic, I spent more than 20 hours on it but well it's complicated

In fact, at the beginning I wanted a great headset for gaming particularly for positioning, but that could also be good for 5.1 or 7.1 movies and not bad for music too. Another difficulty is that I want to play on ps3, xbox 360 or pc with that headset. My pc is an alienware M17x R3 that can’t do Dolby Digital Live, so it seems that I need an external sound card (like asus sonar U3 or creative x-fi titanium HD), that I will probably get anyway as the sound card in the laptop is not that great.

When I found this great thread, I begin interested in mixamp as it seems to be very useful to improve the sound “quality”. However it doesn’t seem to be that great on pc ! The Recon 3D could do the work but, based on MLE thoughts on it, if Dolby is better I would prefer to use Dolby!

I also read lot of things lately about stereo headphones like AKG K701 with an amp such as Fiio E10 or E17 but would it be good on consoles? (I don’t know if MLE had the opportunity to try it as it does only Stereo?)

It seems that the Skullcandy Plyr 1 could be the perfect headset for me but I don’t really want to wait until April! What I really want is to be amazed by the sound I’m hearing while playing or watching movies, can someone enlighten me?

Rambobbybob,
If it helps any to make you feel better, it took me a month to settle on my AD700 headphones (and another month to actually receive them...), and then a few YEARS to decide on jumping to the Q701. Thinking is good (and so is saving money), but so is living your life

Isn't your Alienware a laptop? In that case, I don't think you can use an internal sound card like the Titanium HD or Asus Xonar DG/DX anyway. If you live in America, then you can find the USB external DAC like the ASUS Xonar U3 for cheaper than $50... Black Friday may be over, but you can still buy it for $35 new or $28 refurbished. None of those would work with a console. If you really just wanna hear a sample of Dolby Headphone, why spend $$$? Mad has a perfectly serviceable YouTube video linked at the top of his guide that already has Dolby Headphone baked in. Try listening to that first before you buy!

The other thing, which is true for all audio, is your own ears are ultimately the best judge of what you'll enjoy. Everyone's ear is shaped and damaged differently, lol, so we all respond to sounds differently. IMO there is a small caveat to that, I think Surround processed audio takes a bit of time to get used to... I had to play/watch for a bit before I stopped concentrating to "hear the effect" and instead watch the media and let instinct fool me for surround placement.

Back to unique ears, I think your ear will determine if you prefer Dolby Headphone, CMSS-3D, THX TruStudio, Silent Cinema etc, and that is the main audio difference between the Mixamp and Recon3D IMO. I happen to like my Recon3D (I use it with my Xbox and PC running Mac or Windows), and my ears actually put TruStudio ahead of DH, and CMSS-3D doesn't work for me very well. NamelessPFG likes CMSS-3D best. So, just keep in mind YMMV. One thing I do notice with the Recon3D, dynamics and depth definitely improved on my Q701 by adding a powerful headphone amp. The Recon3D was perfectly suited by itself for the AD700 though, and the bass boost was a welcome option for that headphone as well. I saw Nameless selling his Recon3D at a very good price, bargain compared to the Mixamp.

Regardless whether you get a Xonar U3, Mixamp, Recon3D, DSS or something else, you're going to feel like you're missing something with harder to drive headphones like the Q701 (apparently the Beyer DT990 32Ω too, and all higher impedance headphones), so you'll eventually want an external headphone amp. All of the surround processors I mentioned have a built-in amp only about as powerful as an iPod classic (Mixamp may be a bit more, and I suspect the Recon3D is "capped" to prevent hiss), so I have come to view them JUST as a processor component, and I use an extra amp when I want to get serious MLE amped his Mixamp with a FiiO E17 for a good ling time, using the E17 just as an amp. Ultimately, the E11 is a cheaper and more powerful amp, because it's only an amp, but Mad wanted the E17 to also use in stereo with music from the computer. An E9k (or Magni) is even more powerful, probably good enough to "stay" as a final headphone amp.

What would I recommend? Buy nice things so you don't have to upgrade later, and buy things separate as you are able to afford them. Like, a powerful stand alone amp can be used with soundcard or audio processor for consoles, but if you get an E17 and then an upgraded Amp or soundcard then half of the E17's features become redundant.

Also note that you're throwing dedicated amps, USB DACs/sound cards, and internal PCI sound cards all into the mix. Very, very different products. I'm not even sure exactly what you're aiming for here, but it seems like you're only concerned with PC support.

Your exactly right; I am mostly concerned with PC support. I'll figure out what to do with my Wii (not wii u) later. I plan to buy the Xonar U3 right now and compare DH to CMSS-3D today using my HD555. Once I figure out which one I prefer, should I just go for the cheapest desktop amp to go with my Q701? I'm looking at the schiit magni, fiio e9k, and fiio e9.

Ordered the mixamp 2013 edition last night and am now waiting for them to arrive.

One thing I want to know, has anyone tried out the HD558's or 598's with them? The 2013 edition seems to add more bass from what I hear and I could use that since the 558's while awesome never had much impact to them.

Also any clip on mic recommendations? I'm thinking of a zalman mic but I'm open for anything else.

That Zalman mic has had... mixed reviews, mainly citing sensitivity problems. You can get an even cheaper lapel mic that will do even better... I got a three pack of mics and two cheap 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapters for about $6 total from Amazon. That was for my Xbox 360... For PC you can still use the lapel mics or a cheap USB mic.

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I've got DT990's and a DSS2 which are great but now I'm looking at amping. How does an amp like an E9 actually fit into this setup? Does it sit between the DSS2 and the DT990? I'm guessing it somehow doesn't affect the converted 5.1 signal as it passes through.

Second question - is the E9 the best amp to use for the DT990? It seems like it is but just wanted to make sure.

Sorry if these have already been asked but I wasn't able to find answers.